Lily was acutely aware of her own part in this drama of innuendo: she knew the exact quality of the amusement the situation evoked.

Lily smiled also: his words were too acute not to strike her sense of humour.

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Her way of glossing over the transaction with Trenor he regarded at once as a tribute to his own acuteness, and a confirmation of his suspicions.

They grew to sudden acuteness as she caught sight of George Dorset descending the steps of the Hotel de Paris and making for her across the square.

The Silverton affair is in the acute stage: it’s necessary that George’s attention should be pretty continuously distracted.

For a while she had been sustained by this desire for privacy and independence; but now, perhaps from increasing physical weariness, the lassitude brought about by hours of unwonted confinement, she was beginning to feel acutely the ugliness and discomfort of her surroundings.

Though she and her hostess had not met since the latter’s tentative discussion of her future, Lily knew that the acuteness which enabled Mrs. Fisher to lay a safe and pleasant course through a world of antagonistic forces was not infrequently exercised for the benefit of her friends.